Singer. He was an American Pop and Country Singer. Royal gained a huge following at the club the Bamboo Ranch in Savannah, Georgia, where nearly 2,500 people each night would flock to the club to hear him and others perform. It was there that Royal would become friends with the successful recording artist, Roy Orbison, who gave him encouragement to pursue his dream as an artist. In 1965, Royal released on Columbia Records, "Down in the Boondocks," which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. His subsequent hits included "I Knew You When" and "Cherry Hill Park." In late 1985, he released "Burned Like a Rocket" which was rapidly climbing the country singles chart, and had just entered the top ten in January of 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, and due to the title of the song, the single began to fall quickly back down the charts as many radio stations were pulling the song from airing. If the song had been released years earlier, it would have been a hit. His 1987 LP "The Royal Treatment" became a Gold Record. He had success with the musical video "I'll Pin a Note on Your Pillow," which reached the top of CMT playlist for months by early 1988. His next fourteen single releases hit the country charts, with the biggest being his cover of "Tell It Like It Is," which hit No. 2 in 1989. His final charted single was 1992's "I'm Okay (And Gettin' Better)", which peaked at No. 51 on the Country Airplay chart. His final album, "His First Gospel Album." was released in 2009. Born into a musical family, who listened nightly to a broad genre of music on the radio , he appeared on his uncle's radio show when he was age eleven, and by age 14, he was appearing on the radio show "Georgia Jubilee" with other seasoned Grand Ole Opry stars. After "Georgia Jubilee" ended, he found a place at the Bamboo Ranch. Royal, who was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1988, died suddenly in his sleep of natural causes. He married three times and divorced three times. He had a daughter.